Conjoined clothing – the art of dressing like your partner is everywhere this spring.  Nowhere has it been seen more clearly in the run up of the General Election with both the Camerons and the Browns going head to head (and hip to hip) in the aim to create a winning look.  (The Cleggs opted out – the fiercesome Mrs Clegg does not even do ironing let alone matching clothing.)

The message behind conjoined clothing is about putting on a united front and presenting yourselves as a team to the world – it’s the X and Y Factor.  It’s a tricky thing – get it wrong and you are more likely to look gruesome twosome rather than winning twinning so what’s the best way to go about it?

Remember Howard and Hilda from the TV series, Ever Decreasing Circles and those Noel Edmond’s Eighties jumpers?  It was a running gag that Howard and Hilda not only borrowed each other’s words but also each other’s wardrobe.

 In a similar vein, David and Victoria Beckham once sported his and hers biker suits that made them both look like a walking advert for Land of Leather.

 To get the look right, opt for a more formal and classic look.  Make sure the colours suit both of you.  Gordon and Sarah Brown nail it spot-on here.  Both opt to wear linen-look in a chocolate brown.  Sarah’s neat and elegant dress with its wide lapels echoes her husband’s jacket and the cardigan (although a tad mumsy) of lilac-grey softens the look and matches Gordon’s tie perfectly.  The necklace of quartz beads adds the right finishing touch and complements the blue of the ex-Prime Minister’s shirt.

 The Camerons, on the same trail, also hit the right note.  Samantha Cameron’s empire-line dress in dark wool works alongside David’s dark business suit and white shirt.  The message is of uniformity and brisk business is clearly on the agenda.  Only Sam’s pendant necklace and peep-toe shoes hint at a touch of individuality.

Now that the election is over we will probably see the end of this look.  Both sets of partners can return to their individual wardrobes with a collective sigh of relief.  Which is a bit of a shame since it certainly brings a new meaning to putting on your party dress…

Tailored Corporate Suits

The clothes you wear play a good part in expressing the kind of personality you want to project and so business companies adapt dress clothes for their employees and executives in order to convey a positive, no-nonsense reputation to their clients and customers. Corporate suits are designed to give the individual a smart look and confidence, to convey competence and reliability. The choice of a corporate suit should compliment the personality of the individual and the character of the company.

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A few weeks ago we received a request from the London College of Fashion asking us to sit on their industrial advisory panel to represent “modern tailoring”. With intrigue we attended, and ended up sitting alongside some of the big names in the industry. Names to note were the head tailor from Nutters of Savile Row (the founder Tommy Nutter is the icon who dressed the Beatles and Rolling Stones in the 60s), the Head Designer from Ted Baker who can be accredited with their popular styling, and numerous others from Savile Row and the broader world of bespoke tailoring.

The faculty head kicked off the meeting on course curriculum, but it quickly became apparent that what they were looking for wasn’t direction on their course (they’d already decided how that would look) but for insight into what’s happening in the real world of fashion and London tailoring in specific. In academia it’s easy to become isolated, so keeping in contact with industry is hugely important for both the College and their students. What ensued was an interesting discussion on the issues facing Savile Row and the dynamic the tailoring industry is seeing with the entrance of some of the modern London tailors like ourselves.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that in times like these companies charging £3000 plus for a suit will be hurting, and they are hurting, but the real bug bear they (to be specific the head tailor at Nutters) had is that many of the new entrants aren’t playing fair. The example given that sticks in my mind was the “bespoke British suit” sold as such in England by British tailoring firms, that is in fact neither made in Britain nor a bespoke suit.

This issue came to a head in 2008 when a Savile Row collective took the tailoring firm Sartoriani to court, claiming that the suits they advertise as “bespoke” are in fact made-to-measure and that Sartoriani are wrongfully advertising their product. Savile Row want the term “bespoke” to become a protected term, something like “champagne” or “haute couture” are protected in France. The result of the court case was the British Advertising Standards Agency ruled that (more…)